Outside boxes at post office can overflow

The in basket: I learned a lesson recently in mailing something
at one of those drive-up mailboxes outside post offices, in this
case, the one in Port Orchard.
One recent Monday, I happened to be returning a couple of Netflix
DVDs shortly before 1 p.m., the designated time for collection of
the mail in the four outside boxes. When the DVDs didn’t slide away
from me into Box Number 1 as I expected, I reached in and found it
so full that I could pull out my mail and a lot more. I put
everything back and checked Box 2. Same thing, and Box 3 was just
as full. Only Box 4 had room for the mail to slide out of
reach.

The in basket: I learned a lesson recently in mailing something at
one of those drive-up mailboxes outside post offices, in this case,
the one in Port Orchard.
If I had thought about it at all, I would have said the safest time
to mail a valuable letter in one of those boxes would be just
before the collection time posted on the box.
But one recent Monday, I happened to be returning a couple of
Netflix DVDs shortly before 1 p.m., the designated time for
collection of the mail in the four outside boxes. When the DVDs
didn’t slide away from me into Box Number 1 as I expected, I
reached in and found it so full that I could pull out my mail and a
lot more. I put everything back and checked Box 2. Same thing, and
Box 3 was just as full. Only Box 4 had room for the mail to slide
out of reach.
My wife and I went inside a few minutes apart and told different
postal employees. Surprisingly, neither said, “Yike,” and
dispatched someone immediately to correct the problem. Another
eight minutes passed before an employee came out at 1:03 p.m. to
collect the mail. A couple other patrons we alerted to the problem
as they drove up waited with us to see what would happen – and
when.
From now on I’ll make it a point to drive to the farthest box at
those outside locations to mail anything, especially on a Monday or
after a holiday, when mailing traffic would be the heaviest. You
should be careful too. I doubt that Port Orchard is the only place
this happens. A friend tells me the same thing happened outside the
Seabeck Post Office in December. Still, I asked David Eberhardt
Jr., Port Orchard’s postmaster, if he wanted to comment on
this.
The out basket:, He did. “I appreciate receiving this information,”
he said. “Normally we have someone go out early on Mondays and
empty the boxes to avoid this situation. I am not sure why that was
not done on this particular Monday.
“Often times it is not that the collection box is full of mail, but
a small package or bundle of mail is dropped in and gets stuck in
the chute. I will research the availability of a larger style
collection box (with a larger chute that does not clog as easily)
to replace the existing boxes.
“Thanks for bringing this to my attention so I
can work on a resolution to this,” he said.